Seat belt buckle

ABSTRACT

A SEAT BELT BUCKLE CHARACTERIZED IN EMPLOYING A SINGLE WIRE SPRING IN THE BUCKLE BODY COMPRISING A LOCK PLATE ENGAGEABLE WITH A TONGUE PLATE AND A BELT BAR FOR SECURING THE OTHER TONGUE OF THE BELT. SAID SINGLE WIRE SPRING IS ADAPTED TO BE SECURED ON A BASE PLATE AT ITS ONE PORTION AND TO EXERT NO SPRINGLY FORCE ON EACH ELEMENT OF THE BUCKLE BODY BESIDES THE REQUIRED PORTIONS. IT IS SO CONSTRUCTED TO EFFECT TWO INDEPENDENT SPRINGLY ACTIONS THEREBY LIFTING UP THE FREE END OF THE LOCK PLATE AND PRESSING DOWN THE BELD BAR EFFECTIVELY WITHOUT AND AID OF ANY OTHER COMPONENT.

3 1971 YOSHIHIRO HAYASHI 3,623,191

SEAT BELT BUCKLE 3 Sheets-Shoot 1 Filed Dec. 4. 1970 INVENTOR. VOJW/14/80 HAY/45f MZMJ 107% Nbv. 30. 1971 YOSHIHIRO HAYASHI 3,523,191

SEAT BELT BUCKLE 3 SheetsSheet 2 Filed Dec. 4. 1970 United States Patent3,623,191 SEAT BELT BUCKLE Yoshihiro Hayashi, Kasugai, Japan, assignorto Kabushiki Kaisha Tokai Rika Denki Seisakusho, NishibiwajimachoNishikasugai-gun, Aichi-Prefecture, Japan Filed Dec. 4, 1970, Ser. No.95,216 Int. Cl. A44]: 11/26 US. Cl. 24-77 1 Claim ABSTRACT OF THEDISCLOSURE A seat belt buckle characterized in employing a single wirespring in the buckle body comprising a lock plate engageable with atongue plate and a belt bar for securing the other tongue of the belt.Said single wire spring is adapted to be secured on a base plate at itsone portion and to exert no springy force on each element of the bucklebody besides the required portions. It is so constructed to effect twoindependent springy actions thereby lifting up the free end of the lockplate and pressing down the belt bar effectively without an aid of anyother component.

This invention relates to a seat belt buckle, and more particularlyrelates to a seat belt buckle characterized in comprising a lock platefor interlocking with a tongue plate, engaged with one end of a baseplate at its rear end and adapted to move swingably at the forward endthereof; a belt bar securing the other belt tongue in the oppositedirection to said tongue plate; and a single wire spring folded oversymmetrically and fitted to the base plate thereby to swingably lift upthe free end of the lock plate and press the belt bar downwardly.

The structure of the conventional seat belt buckle is such that the lockelement for interlocking with a belt tongue is released by rotating theswingable cover plate in an unlocking direction which is operable by thelever pivotally secured to the rear portion of the base plate. Theconventional seat belt buckle has defects that the structure iscomplicated and troublesome in assembling since numbers of componentsare employed. It has another functional defect that an unexpecteddisengagement of the tongue from the locked position has been oftenencountered, since the force of inertia, on collision, is exertedthereupon in a direction of unlocking the tongue.

In view of the defects of such conventional seat belt buckle, it is aprimary object of the present invention to provide a seat belt bucklewhich is simply assembled by employing a single wire spring folded intoa desirable shape to exert a plurality of springy forces on the requiredportions respectively.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a seat beltbuckle which is free from an unexpected disengagement of the tongueplate from the locked position and disengagement whereof is preciselyeffected only by pressing the free end of the lock plate with a fingerthrough an aperture formed in a cover plate.

Essentially, according to this invention, there is provided a seat beltbuckle which comprises a cover plate secured to a base plate, said baseplate being provided on both sides thereof with upstanding and inwardlyfolded flanges each having a pair of cut-out portions; a lock platehaving one end engaged with one end of the base plate at its reentrantedge serving to make the other free end of the lock plate swingable upand down; a belt bar for securing a belt tongue traversing an apertureformed in the base plate; a wire spring formed of a flexible wire andconsisting of a traversing portion fitted to a reentrant portion of thelock plate, springy legs formed by almost rectangularly bending the bothends of said traversing ice portion and extending forward to besupported by the front end of the base plate, folded-back portionsextending toward the rear end of the base plate under the flanges andsecond springy legs further folded back at the extending ends of saidfolded-back portions and extending over the belt bar, said wire springbeing provided with ridges on the folded portions between thefolded-back portions and the second springy legs respectively forabutting against the under surfaces of the flanges and further providedwith stepped portions on the folded-back portions thereby to be firmlysecured on the flanges.

The foregoing and other objects, features and advantages of thisinvention will be made apparent from the following description taken inconnection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a seat belt buckle which isone embodiment of this invention;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the same uncovered and partly cut away;

FIG. 3 is a side elevational view of the same, sectionally taken alongthe central plane; and FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a tongue plate.

Referring now to the drawings, there is illustrated a seat belt buckleaccording to the present invention. Nu-

meral 1 designates a buckle body. Numeral 2 is a base,

plate which consists of upstanding and inwardly folded flange portions3, 3 on the opposite side confronting each other, a web portion having areentrant edge portion 4 at the rear end 2a for supporting a lock plate8, a projection 5 formed integrally therewith for supporting a free endof a tongue plate 33 (FIG. 4) and an aperture 6 for taking out the otherbelt tongue formed near the front end 2b thereof. Said flanges 3, 3 eachhave two cut-out portions 7, 7 approximately above the aperture 6 forsuspending a belowmentioned wire spring.

Numeral 8 designates a lock plate which has one end fitted to saidreentrant edge portion 4 and the length substantially extending over theaperture 6. At the portion thereof corresponding to the middle betweenthe supporting projection 5 and the aperture 6 of the base plate 2, saidlock plate 8 is provided with an upstanding bent portion 9. A flatsurface extending from the rear end 10 thereof in abutment on thereentrant edge portion 4 is slightly slanted and has a relief aperture11 for receiving the supporting projection 5 and a lock protuberance 12which gradually swells from the rear end 10 toward the relief aperture11 to be most protuberant at the aperture edge. The top of theupstanding bent portion 9 is so adapted as to project from the flanges3, 3 of the base plate when assembled and forms an operative surface 13extending therefrom parallel to the base plate 2. The operative surface13 and the upstanding bent portion 9 provide a reentrant angle 14therebetween to have a belowmentioned wire spring fitted thereto. A webplate 15 is attached to the operative surface 13.

Numeral 16 (FIG. 3) designates a belt bar traversing the take-outaperture 6. A belt tongue 34 wound around said belt bar is pulled out ofthe aperture 6 downwardly. Numeral 17 is a nearly channel-shaped fixingmember positioned at the front end 2b of the base plate 2 and having twoprojections 18, 18 which extend over the ends of the belt bar 16 andhave respective cut-out portions 19, 19 thereunder for slidablyreceiving the belt bar 16.

Numeral 20 designates a cover plate of the buckle body fixed thereoncovering the upper surfaces of the flanges 3, 3 and the lateral face ofthe fixing member 17. An operative window 21 is formed on the uppersurface of said cover plate at the portion corresponding to theoperative surface 13 (and web plate 15) of the lock plate 8 forpermitting a direct touch on said operative surface by a finger. It isto be noted that a gap 22 (FIG. 3) is formed between the reentrant edge4 of the base plate 2 and the rear end of the cover plate 20 so as topermit insertion of the tongue plate 33. Numeral 23 designates a nearlyU-shaped spring attached to the supporting projection by way of itsfitting element 24 and a free end thereof protrudes through the reliefaperture 11 of the lock plate 8 to confront and the lock protuberance12.

Numeral 25 designates a Wire spring of a flexible Wire folded into adesired shape as depicted in the drawings. Said Wire spring 25 consistsof a traverse portion 26 adapted to fit to the reentrant portion 14 ofthe lock plate 8, springy legs 27, 27 formed by almost rectangularlybending the both ends of said traverse portion 26 and extending over theupper surface of the fixing member 17 to be supported by the front end2b of the base plate 2 through said fixing member 17, folded-backportions 28, 28 backwardly extending toward the rear end 2a of the baseplate under the flanges 3, 3 and the second springy legs 30, 30 furtherfolded back at the extending ends of said folded-back portions 28, 28and extending over the belt bar 16. There are provided on saidfolded-back portions 28, 28 respective stepped portions 31, 31 to permitpartial appearance of the flexible wire above the flanges 3,3 betweeneach pair of cut-out portions 7, 7. There are further provided ridges29, 29 respectively on the folded portions between the folded-backportions 28, 28 and the second springy legs 30, 30 for abutting againstthe under surfaces of the flanges 3, 3. In case that the fixing member17 is omitted, another pair of ridges may be provided on the foldedportions between the first springy legs 27, 27 and the folded-backportions 28, 28 to directly abut upon the base plate 2. The use of theexplained wire spring is illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3.

According to the present invention, as set forth hereinabove, thefolded-back portions 28, 28 of the wire spring 25 extending under theflanges 3, 3 are adapted to be firmly secured on said flanges 3, 3 byway of the cut-out portions 7, 7 at the stepped portions 31 thereof andto exert no springy force on each element of the buckle body besides therequired portions. The first and second springy legs 27, 27 and 30, 30are adapted to exert independent springy forces for lifting up the lockplate 8 and pushing down the belt bar 16, respectively.

Operation will be described with reference to FIG. 3 of the drawings.

If the tongue plate 33 with an aperture 35 near the front free endthereof is inserted into the buckle through the gap 22 along the undersurfaces of the flanges 3, 3, the front free end of the tongue plate 33passes inwardly beyond the lock protuberance 12 of the lock plate 8slidably pressing said lock protuberance by the under surface thereof,until the aperture 35 gets engaged with the lock protuberance 12,thereby locking the tongue plate within the buckle body.

If, in order to release the tongue plate 33 from the locked position theoperative surface 13 (and web plate 15) of the lock plate 8 is pusheddown by a finger inserted through the operative window 21 of the coverplate, a swing motion takes place on the entire lock plate 8 supportedat the reentrant portion 4 to push the lock protuberance 12 downwardlybelow the upper end of the supporting projection 5, whereby the aperture35 of the tongue plate 33 is disengaged from the lock protuberance 12 ofthe lock plate, thus effecting release of the tongue plate from thebuckle.

As described hereinbefore, the seat belt buckle of the present inventionhas such notable features that the aforesaid two independent springactions can be easily attained by configuring a single wire toeffectively prevent any other movement of the lock plate 8 except aswing motion and invertion of the belt bar 16, and that the constructionof the buckle body is extremely simple.

What is claimed is:

1. A seat belt buckle which comprises a cover plate secured to a baseplate, said base plate having a reentrant edge at its rear end and beingprovided on both sides thereof with upstanding and inwardly foldedflanges each having a pair of cut-out portions; a lock plate having oneend engaged with one end of the base plate at its reentrant edge to makethe other free end of the lock plate swingable up and down; a belt barfor securing a belt tongue and traversing an aperture formed in the baseplate; a wire spring formed of a flexible wire and consisting of atraverse portion fitted to a reentrant portion of the lock plate, firstspringy legs formed by almost rectangularly bending the both ends ofsaid traverse portion and extending forward to be supported by the frontend of the base plate, folded-back portions extending toward the rearend of the base plate under the flanges and second springy legs furtherfolded back at the extending ends of said folded-back portions andextending over the belt bar, said wire spring being provided with ridgeson the folded portions between the folded-back portions and the secondspringy legs respectively for abutting against the under surfaces of theflanges and further provided with stepped portions on the folded-backportions to be firmly secured on the flanges, thereby effecting twoindependent springy forces respectively for lifting up the free end ofthe lock plate and pressing down the belt bar.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS BERNARD A. GELAK, PrimaryExaminer US. Cl. X.R. 24-230

